[2] Lao-Tsze speaks of the Supreme Being as "it," not "he," and implies that his Tao, whatever he signified by it, may have existed even before God.—Trans.
These quotations cannot fail to give an exalted idea of the principles advocated by the Chinese sage. They even shadow forth, to some extent, the doctrine of the Gospel, which was not preached until 600 years after the death of the author of the Tao-Teh-King; but the extract I give now from the forty-ninth section of the book on Supreme Reason is yet more strikingly significant:
"The heart of a holy man is not inexorable.
"His heart is in sympathy with the hearts of all other men.
"A virtuous man should be treated according to his virtue.
"A vicious man should be treated as if he also were virtuous. Herein is wisdom and virtue."
Again in the sixteenth section we read:
"To be just, and equitable to all, is to have the attributes of God.
"Having the attributes of God is to be of the divine nature.
"To be of the divine nature is to succeed in becoming identified with the Tao or the supreme and universal Reason.